The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-31
NUMBER 90.
THEN AND NOW.
The Old Times Were not In All Respects
Better than the New.
Iaua.r n..aan

London Queen.
A few sentimental croakers among us
are fond of bewailing our present COM
parative degradation, while exalting the
finer qualities and conditions of old mazs
di@yal times. They pose as noble nfaiJ
| contents-superior minded dissentients;
and they think others low and base In
proportion TO their content with things
as they are and calm appraisement OF
life rs il was. People with every modern
luxury, fastidious 10 quasi-disease ON all
things pertaining 10 niceness and clean
illness, and accustomed TO the absolute
independence of personal habit which
can come about only by a settled state OF
society and complete public security, La
ment the time when rushes, green
boughs or straw were the only carpet
over the uncleansed fioor--when diseases
rose like mists from "A marsh from the
hideous foulness beneath-when gas and
oil were unknown, and pinewood torches
or rudely moulded candles gave the
light that was needed-when the bath
was matter of ceremony aud the daily
tub was thing unknown-when dogs
fought with beggars for the scraps flung
on the ground by the surfeited revelers-
when the roads were unsafe for travel
great
Drawl on more serious tght-when homi-
cides and murders were commoner than
with us are the cases of pickpocketing or
petty lnrceny-when the seigneur had
the right Of life and death over his vas
sails and no mans liberty was his own
when women were married according 10
the lords will, as lac might pair his
falcons or his greyhounds, and babies in
their cradles were betrothed or perhaps
married-when the lady and her hand
maidens were often kept prisoners In the
castle for weeks and months at "a time,
because of the foe emcamped without
when there was no law but that of the
stronger and God did not always defend
the right in the judicial duel between
the accused and the accuser.
There was so much 10 stir the imagi-
nation in these picturesque times-when
life seems To have been one long day of
heroism in the field and gallantry in the
list Now, save for AN occasional brush
with n burglar, life IN so destitute of
stirring incidents i'm the way Of heroic
daring, and, save for an occasional earth
quake, "A railway accident or shipwreck
here and there, we are all 30 prosaically
safe |! We have no Cids. no Bayards.
no kings like our Third Edward, no low
ers like our Guinevere or la Beale
lsoud.' Our women wear tailor-made
dresses; our men are all democratically
alike in their plainness and hideousness.
o for the DAYS when the one trailed behind
her long flowing lengths Of samite and
when the other wore chain armor and
surcoats Yet we do not
that the sumptuary laws of
those old days were strict and
severe, and that, unless we had been
born in the purple, we should have had
but sorry portion i'm dress as in other
things. Ii was an offense for the bouI-
A ri
Jeanne de Navarro went TO Bruges and
6hent and saw the wonderful luxury Of
the ladies dress, she said, with displeas-
uIe: IL thought was the only queen
Dc--,>hutlsee more than six hundred
Charles the Seventh of France spoke bit
terly against the grand and costly attire
of those who were not noble. "Qne
knows not the estate or vocation OF folk,
they be princes, mobiles, citizens
or artisans, he said, "because all dress
at their pleasure either in cloth of gold
or silver, silk or stuff, without regard To
their estate" In England we were far
stricter, and made the apportionment OF
fur a matter of rank and state. But the
our modern servants-re-
sented this distinction, and those who
were rich were determined 10 ruiiie IL
rs bravely as the better born. Towards
the end of the thirteenth century rich
merchant from Nalenciennes came 20
the French court in mantle OF costly
furs embroidered with gold and pearls.
No seat being offered him, he rolled up
his mantle and sat ON IL. When he rose
he left il ON the ground. The servants
called after him, saying he had left his
mantle behind him, when he answered
with the true monied disdain: ut In
not the custom OF people in my country
TO take their seats away with them.
Every kind of petty personal restric-
tions cramped the free energies OF the
people in those days so much regretted by
the sentimentalIties. The william was the
william through life unto death and his
lord owed him no more consideration
than the American slave driver owed his
field hands. Oaths, blows, torture. death
the lord was master Of his own and no
stranger might intermeddle with these
purely domestic matters. Besides this,
the scale of tyranny went up through
various gradations till IL reached the
man having someone
higher than himself TO whom he was
bound to pay some sort Of fealty. And
besides this again, the law had its secret
agents and undeclared powers, and the
the Council Of Ten, the
Star Chamber, the Bastile and all pris-
ons everywhere were the natural out
come of a state of things wherein the
will of man and not the law Of the land
was the regulating power OF society. :.